What Really Happened Between Richelieu, Buckingham and the Queen: When Love Makes Politics

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Everyone who watched the Soviet musical "The Three Musketeers" remembers the difficult relationship between Anne of Austria, Queen of France, with men. Despite the strong simplifications of the plot, the line of Anna of Austria is generally conveyed correctly. But - almost without details, so that you can only get the most general idea of what happened between her, Richelieu and Buckingham. In fact, everything was, of course, more complicated.

The first beauty of France

From her native Spain to France, in marriage, Anna was sent in less than fourteen years. As soon as the young princess arrived in her new homeland, she was immediately recognized as the most beautiful woman in France. An inhabitant of the twenty-first century is unlikely to be impressed by her portraits, but in her time there were completely different standards, and Anna corresponded to them: a soft plump body, surprisingly thin white skin, golden hair, a languid look, moderately plump lips and a stately demeanor, which was driven in in all Spanish princesses from an early age.

King Louis, only a year older, could not wait for the official introduction to the bride and hurried off on horseback incognito - just to glance in the carriage window in passing and make sure that Princess Anne Mauricia was really a rare beauty. The first days of their intercourse were full of tenderness, but then the queen mother forced Louis in the presence of two ladies of the court to fulfill his conjugal duty - and this experience shocked the young man terribly. As soon as he was done with his business, he jumped out into the street and wandered until morning.

After that night, he treated Anna rather coolly - and, nevertheless, because of painful pride, he was terribly jealous of her. This jealousy was fueled by Anna's unlovers, starting with the king's mother, who at that time, by the nature of the play of Anna and Louis Gaston's younger brother, presented children as evidence of their romance.

It is not surprising that both Cardinal Richelieu and the Duke of Buckingham, who were both morbidly ambitious and sought the best, and even better the forbidden, courted Anna of Austria. Yes, the scene in Richelieu's imagination, where Anna refuses him, did take place - and even the dance is associated with her, but completely different.

Richelieu's humiliation and Buckingham's triumph

Richelieu met with Anne Louis's mother, Queen Mary. It was the cardinal's job to ensure that Anna remained loyal to the king while he mustered the courage to visit her bedroom again. Anna was in her early twenties, Richelieu was a little short of forty. Despite such a difference in age, Richelieu suddenly began to seek the young queen. At first Anna was amused - what the man decided to take for signs of encouragement; but things started to go too far. The Queen decided to put the minister, who dared to look after the wife of his master, in his place, and she did it in a very offensive way.

The queen made it clear to the cardinal that she would give herself to him if he fulfilled her little whim: she would dance the sarabanda. This dance did not suit the clergyman in any way, and on the lanky Richelieu it would also look comical, but he, having lost his head, agreed. The Queen, however, secured her honor by placing young ladies behind the tapestries, who were supposed to either testify that she refused the cardinal, or jump out at a dangerous moment.

Richelieu appeared in short green trousers, with bells on garters, stockings and castanets on his fingers, and began to dance. A former officer, he moved well, but the contrast with his usual manner was so great that the witnesses could not help themselves: they literally writhed with suppressed laughter. The Cardinal noticed movement behind the tapestries, understood everything and was furious. So his dislike for the Duke of Buckingham, as probably a successful rival in love, may not only be politics.

Moreover, Anna of Austria is not the only woman with whom the cardinal was in love and whose attention Buckingham intercepted. When Buckingham appeared at the court of Louis, a complex amorous combination developed. The king loved the young nobleman Saint Mara. Saint Mar loved a lady named Marion de Lorme. And she was loved by the cardinal - whom she either did not want, or she could not reject. It is known that she constantly appeared to Richelieu in a man's suit - for conspiracy.

Nevertheless, rumors circulated in Paris that Saint Mar was not satisfied with the love of the king, and de Lorme with the passion of Richelieu, and the first visited the second through the window, along the ladder, which the lady prudently hung out at night. So, according to the same rumors, Buckingham paid the intermediary a huge amount for getting to know Marion, and gave her a generous gift for a night of love. Richelieu could not help but know these rumors. He himself showered Marion with gifts, because the only man from whom she did not demand anything was the young and beautiful Sen Mar. Which, by the way, was soon executed during the intrigues of the cardinal. In general, Richelieu had two reasons, besides political, to dislike Buckingham, and he showed himself to be a man who cracks down on rivals in love. No matter how you look for political motives in his showdown, every time his love is involved there.

A dozen pendants

Buckingham was famous for his outrageousness and behavior, which demonstrated to everyone that he was allowed what was forbidden to others. It began in England, when, having become the king's lover, Buckingham allowed himself to slap another nobleman in the face in his presence. Such an act was punishable by the removal of the hand - he got away with the young man.

Buckingham came to France for the bride of the new English king, the son of his late patron and lover, Princess Henrietta. He amazed the French court with the splendor of the cortege and costumes. His costume instantly became legendary, embroidered with pearls on purpose so casually that pearls rolled around the ballroom with every movement. Of course, Buckingham could not pass by to master the best women in France. Among courtesans, de Lorme was considered such, and among decent women, the queen.

For eight days in Paris Buckingham, without hiding, publicly lashed out at Anna of Austria, making the king grow darker and darker. Moreover, Anna was in the cortege of those who accompanied Princess Henrietta to the seashore - along with her mother-in-law, Henrietta's mother, of course. In Amiens, Queen Mary became ill, and the cortege stopped. Walking in the garden of the hospitable owners of the estate, where they decided to make a stop, Anna and Buckingham broke away from the escorts. True, it seems that the escorts themselves slowed down - either considering Anna and the duke to be a couple already, or … the duke did not skimp on money.

Suddenly the walkers heard Anna screaming. Running up to the queen, they saw that Anna was trying to break free from Buckingham's embrace. Her dress was in disarray. In general, their private meeting did not look at all the way it is shown in the film. The scandal was hushed up, as was customary, but … the king was told what had happened. The king met his wife in anger and made it clear that he did not believe in her loyalty. And he had reasons - although in them he shouldn't have credited that embrace of the duke. The fact is that the next day the queen, saying goodbye to the duke, as de La Rochefoucauld, the famous philosopher testifies, presented Buckingham with a dozen pendants. Perhaps her heart really fluttered at the combination of the handsome Englishman's insistence and the fact that they might never see each other again.

Stolen pendants

The queen's pendants did not look the same as in the movie. These were the diamond tips of ribbons or cords tied with bows - these were then used to decorate costumes. Two of them were actually stolen and sent to the cardinal by one lady - the English Countess Carlisle, who was never the wife of a French count, as she became in the book of Dumas and the film with Terekhova. She was among Buckingham's mistresses and, it is believed, agreed to help Richelieu out of jealousy, not self-interest.

And then it was almost like in a novel. Buckingham, discovering that two pendants were missing, immediately realized what was happening, ordered the restoration of the bows and sent them to France. The cardinal presented two pendants to the king and queen, claiming that Buckingham had given them to his mistress, and that she was selling diamond tips one at a time.

The goal was not only to inflame the king's jealousy, but also to hurt the queen's beloved with the infidelity - this goal could not have a political motive, it was pure revenge of a rejected man. The king almost slapped the queen in the face, but she presented the bows well known to him with all twelve pendants.

The Buckingham story had a continuation, but not at all romantic. When Buckingham was killed by a soldier named Felton, apparently for political reasons, the queen did not leave the chapel for several days. The king was very irritated by this, and he told her to dance with him at the ball. Anna tried to refuse, but the king said that there was no mourning in the palace, so there was no reason to refuse. Anna obeyed and danced, but these were the last dances in her life. Before that she loved balls, after that she loved balls.

By the way, they eventually reconciled with Richelieu, and he even got her a lover, similar to the late Buckingham. His name was Mazarin, and he became the new cardinal and minister in the days of her regency. Richelieu died shortly after this parting gift. Louis died next. Of all the tangled love polygon, only Anna remained. She lived for a long time.

The film, shot many years ago, continues to excite the viewer: How the actors who played the roles in the cult Soviet film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers" have changed over the years after filming.